This report seeks to better understand the circumstances in which newsrooms cover civilian harm in the digital age—particularly at a time of shrinking budgets and competing resource pressures. In a war where reporters’ lives were at risk—including from so-called Islamic State—how important was field reporting to covering this issue? In the absence of personnel in the field, how well did reporters back home keep the issue of civilian harm in the public eye? A review of U.S. Department of Defense press conferences found that the Pentagon press corps rarely raised civilian harm during hundreds of encounters with officials—believing perhaps it was the job of those in the field, even when such personnel were infrequently deployed on the ground.
Intimacies of Remote Warfare